Chapter 39

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Translator: Harry Potta
Chapter: 39
Chapter Title: The Duke's Judgment
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"Dia!!"

Killon's eyes flew wide open as he took a step toward her. Then a sharp blade shot out from a cane, flying straight at his thigh.

"Arghhh!"

Seized by agony, Killon clutched his leg and writhed on the floor like a worm.

The duke rose slowly from his seat and approached him.

"Y-Your Grace the Duke. How could a wretch like me possibly stand against Your Grace, the shield of the empire? Please, forgive me. I don't know what I've done to offend Your Grace, but please, have mercy..."

His eyes bloodshot from excruciating pain, Killon crawled to the duke's feet.

The duke withdrew the cane.

"Aaack!"

"Yes. How dare a worm like you commit such an act?"

Killon snapped to his senses at the duke's icy voice. Hastily staunching the blood from his thigh with his hand, he looked up at the duke with trembling eyes.

"I was wrong. I was wrong. Your Grace, please show mercy."

"Do you know who's behind you?"

"Pardon?"

Killon stared at him blankly, his face a mess of tears and snot.

"Where is that woman?"

"Sob sob. W-Who do you mean?"

Killon prostrated himself in submission, tears streaming down.

"Where is your fiancée?"

Olive, who had been looking down at him coldly, asked on his behalf.

"She stepped out for a moment."

"Find her."

At the duke's murmur, the window curtain fluttered once.

Then the blade from the cane in the duke's hand slowly approached Killon's throat.

"For a vermin like you to touch my family..."

Unlike his emotionless voice, the duke's hand trembled slightly with rage.

Sensing his death in that moment, Killon closed his eyes, tears flowing.

The duke hadn't even interrogated him.

It was all exposed. To make it look like a monster attack, he'd sprinkled monster blood over the corpses. He'd killed off his brothers-in-law to keep their mouths shut.

But how did he find out? Why ask about my fiancée now?

"W-Wait a moment, Your Grace."

Just then, Dia, who had been standing far away, approached them.

The halted blade left a trickle of blood above Killon's throat at her words.

"Dia!"

Only his niece could save his life. Killon gazed at her with a fawning face.

"You saw it too, didn't you? The duke's trying to kill me for no reason. Go to His Majesty the Emperor right now and tell him..."

"Where is Perido?"

Dia asked, etching every detail of his wretched state into her eyes.

"What?"

Killon blinked in confusion.

"Where is Perido! Hand over my little brother! I don't care if a bastard like you who killed my parents and kidnapped my brother lives or dies! Give me back my brother!"

"No, I didn't kill them."

Killon frantically shook his head with a dumbstruck expression.

He hadn't killed them himself. He'd merely given the order to the men his fiancée had introduced.

***

"Where is Perido!"

Dia shook him by the collar, tears falling in drops.

"I-I don't know. Perido's gone missing!"

"...What?"

Dia barely squeezed out the words, her face choked.

"It's true, I was looking for Perido too!"

"You had Perido, you locked us up, and now you claim you don't know?"

As the shocked Dia loosened her grip, Killon's eyes flashed for an instant. He seized the throat of Dia, who was close by.

Killon drew a small knife hidden in his shoe and pressed it to Dia's neck.

"If you touch me once more, I'll kill this brat."

The duke, eyes closed, raised both hands. Forks and knives on the table floated up into the air.

Killon shrieked pathetically at the sight he'd never witnessed before.

"I'm serious, I'll kil—"

His words didn't finish.

Silver knives and forks flew like living things and embedded themselves.

The servants' faces went pale.

Drenched in blood all over, Killon rolled his eyes back and fainted.

"I-Is he dead?"

Dia glared coldly at Killon collapsed at her feet, her voice trembling.

"...Not yet."

No sooner had the duke spoken than Dia yanked out one of the knives.

Her hand shook violently as she aimed it at the center of Killon's chest.

"I'll kill him."

Dia lowered the knife slowly, tears dropping steadily.

Olive gently grasped her hand.

"A noble must not kill another noble."

He shook his head with a bitter tone.

"I could do it in a duel..."

Dia still held the knife pointed at him.

"The opponent must recognize it, my lady. And there's a reason His Grace the Duke hasn't killed him yet."

"...Why?"

"We need to expose every detail of his crimes. He'll be torn apart and gibbeted in front of all the southern nobles. So everyone sees the price for daring to touch House Vines. So no one ever touches the duke's family again."

Clang. The knife fell to the marble floor.

Dia closed her fluttering eyelids. Tears rolled down her cheeks.

'Vines protects its own. Mother. You were right, Mother.'

* * *

Caw. Caw.

Crows gathered in the wide open space before the count's manor.

The territory's residents passed by, spitting at the gibbeted corpse or hurling curses with angry faces.

From early morning, many people assembled before the count's manor. There, Killon's crimes were laid bare one by one.

Imperial executioners had come and gone, and summary judgment had been passed.

The residents hadn't yet recovered from the deaths of the benevolent count and his wife.

They raged at the revelation that Killon was behind it, some even weeping in fury.

Amid this, a black-haired boy with a disfigured face was found dead in Killon's secret warehouse. It was a child Killon had prepared as a Perido substitute for any contingencies.

Dia fainted upon confirming it wasn't Perido.

The count couple had already been cremated, so the nobles who had rushed for the funeral were turned away, replaced by a simple family rite.

The air grew thick with the scent of rain. A downpour seemed imminent.

Kay bowed deeply behind Gerald, who stood by the window.

***

"That woman vanished without a trace, leaving no clues about her background."

After the report, Gerald's lips parted heavily after a long pause.

"Was I the variable? I thought they'd use Killon more."

"..."

Kay bowed his head deeper without a word.

Just then, footsteps approached from outside.

"Come in."

Olive entered with a haggard-faced Dia.

"The lady said she had something to say, so I brought her."

Gerald, still by the window, gave a slight nod in response.

Dia clasped her hands together, took a step toward Gerald, and bowed deeply.

"I thank you for all your grace. Once we find Perido, we can return to how things were before."

She couldn't go back to the past when her parents were alive, but now she was the head of the family. Forcing down her surging emotions, Dia lifted her head.

"..."

Gerald stood silently.

Watching the profile of the closed-eyed duke, Dia recalled her dear mother's face.

"Are you telling me to leave now?"

"Pardon?"

Dia's eyes widened at his blunt words.

"You're still too young."

"I'll be of age in a few months."

Dia spoke firmly, clenching her fists.

"The empire doesn't recognize women as family heads."

Dia bit her lip hard.

Was that why he'd resolved everything? Now that Killon was dead, was the Western Duke trying to swallow up the count's house?

Betrayed by someone she'd trusted, she found it hard to trust anyone anymore.

Dia opened her mouth with an anxious expression.

"I'll be honest. I don't need a guardian. I'll be of age soon, so I can be the children's guardian."

"Impossible."

"Do you want the count's fortune? Or the land? I'll give you anything. Just please leave."

Dia stared straight at Gerald and spoke coldly.

The corners of his lips curved up ever so slightly.